More Anchorage, Alaska residents fly to work than take transit, survey says

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A regional transportation survey conducted last fall found that Anchorage-area residents were more likely to take a bike or an airplane to work than public transit, the Fort Mill Times reported.

The federally funded Regional Household Travel Survey results, which are still being finalized, show that 2.2% rode bikes to work as their usual means of commuting, 1.8% flew in an airplane, and 1.7% took public transit. About 11% of respondents carpooled to work, but the vast majority, 74%, drove alone.

It's the first time the survey has been conducted in more than a decade. Craig Lyon, Anchorage's transportation planning manager, said he was "really stunned" to see that 1.8% of survey respondents traveled by airplane to get to work and described the effort to increase ridership on transit systems, in Anchorage and elsewhere, as an "eternal struggle," according to the Fort Mill Times.